Have I told you about my first car before? No?
As far as first cars go, I was blessed with a pretty cool one.
Its a 1968 Camaro. White (with white vinyl top) with a blue interior
Motor was a 327, came with a powerglide. 10 bolt 2.73 rear end with slapper bars on the leaf springs. Still had exhaust manifolds on it. Quadrabog carburetor, no extra guages, so so wheels and tires, etc. Overall, just a plain jane car
I put new wheels and tires on it. Painted the front grill, removed the front bumper. Engine wise it got a holly carb, mallory ignition, Hooker headers with flowmaster mufflers (on turn downs) Turbo 400 tranny, electric fans, and the battery moved to the trunk. Interior got a radio, auto meter gauges, and black tinted the windows.
I loved this car and there were many great (and sad, and frustrating, and crazy) times had in and around it.
But alas, one day it had to be traded in on a more reliable mode of transportation that got better gas mileage, (i got about 6 miles to the gallon going down hill with a tail wind) had things like Air conditioning and such so i could go off to college and get a job and be a functional member of society.
Hmmm, where did I go wrong...
I ended up driving a 89 S10 pickup truck (also white with a blue interior, hmmmm, had the 4.3 liter V6, it was stout!) but we are not here to talk about that.
So since about a month after I got rid of that car, I have been wanting another one. Since I graduated high school while the dinosaurs roamed the earth, it has been about 100 years I have been thinking, and looking, and waiting.
there have been a few opportunities that have come around for me to get another Camaro, but none of them ended up working out.
I even ended up buying the 69 C10 that I own and love as somewhat of a compromise. It was something I could drive, use as a pickup, play with as a hot rod, etc.
One of the thoughts with the hanger was to have room for maybe parking a hot rod (or 6 or 8 or...)
even lately there have been quite a few cars I have asked about, gone to look at, etc. But none of them have worked out.
Until now.
I tell the LOML one evening about a car that I found on CL that was way cool, but was located a long way away and costs too much money. As she is looking for the listing on CL she asks me if I saw the blue one. My answer, "yeah, crazy shiny paint job, too much money, etc"
She says to me, no, this one and shows me the picture. I look at the pics and the info given. Immediately decide to give the guy a call.
Next morning, I call the guy. He was a great guy, telling me all the good, bad and ugly things about the car, history he knows, what he has done to it, etc. We setup a time for me to see the car the next day.
Next morning, the 3 of us hop in the truck and head to where the car is, about 45 minutes from the house. We look at the car, M and I take it for a spin, talk to the current owner more about what it is and what it isnt. Then, he and I started talking price. I ended up making him an offer and telling him if he was OK with that, I would drive to the back and get him a cashiers check.
next thing you know, we were in the truck on the way to the bank. Brought him back the money, got the keys to the car and drove off. We drove it straight to the hanger as there are a couple of things I need to do to it before I can get it inspected.
68 Camaro, Originally Gold on Gold.
327, 700r4, 10 bolt posi rear end with 3:73 gears (and it does a pretty good burn out, i'm just sayin) Disc brake conversion for the front along with power assist, edlebrock carb (dammit, going to have to learn how to work on those things I guess since I now own 2 vehicles with those damn carbs) edlebrock intake, full tube headers, dual exhaust. A few Sun gauges in the interior.
It is just another plain jane car that people, over the years, have done work to. Adding the paint job, changing the interior, RS hidden headlights (which I LOVE)
It has a lot of RS trim, but its just fakin, it aint no true RS.
It has a white interior (hmm, blue car with white interior, hmmmm, something seems right about that, but maybe backwards,,,,)
Is it a show car? NOPE!. It is a daily driver. It has some issues in the paint, some pits on the chrome, problems in the interior, etc, etc. But as I have said before, I dont like trailer queens. Cars were meant to be driven. (and do burnouts, did I mention this car does a pretty good burnout?)
so at this point I am sitting here writing this and I dont even know if I believe it. If I go out to the hanger now will it be there?
Is there really a Camaro in my shop or is this all just a dream?
in the ever lasting words of Willy Womka. "Dont forget the story of the man who suddenly got everything he wished for."
"........he lived happily ever after"
DD
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